RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Detection of coins ingested by children using a handheld metal detector: a systematic review
JF Emergency Medicine Journal
JO Emerg Med J
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and the British Association for Accident & Emergency Medicine
SP 839
OP 844
DO 10.1136/emj.2004.022301
VO 22
IS 12
A1 J B Lee
A1 S Ahmad
A1 C P Gale
YR 2005
UL http://emj.bmj.com/content/22/12/839.abstract
AB To determine if the use of a handheld metal detector (HHMD) can safely reduce the number of radiographs requested in cases of coins ingested by children, a search was performed to identify prospective studies of the ability of an HHMD to identify the presence or absence of ingested coin in children (17 years or younger). Outcome measures were presence or absence of coin on metal detector screening, and accuracy of coin localisation. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were defined. Mantel-Haenszel (fixed effect model) pooling with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was used to calculate overall sensitivities and specificities. In total, 11 studies met the inclusion criteria. The overall sensitivity of the HHMD at detecting the presence of coins was 99.4% (95% CI 98.0 to 99.9%) and accuracy at localisation was 99.8% (98.5 to 100.0%). The overall specificity of the HHMD was 100% (76.8 to 100%). Use of the HHMD is an accurate, radiation free, and cost effective method of identifying and localising coins ingested by children. An algorithm for investigating children with coin ingestion is proposed.